Sleepover killer Damien Bendall has been jailed for life for a second time after launching a frenzied claw hammer attack on a fellow prisoner inside a maximum-security jail.
The quadruple murderer - already condemned to die behind bars for slaughtering his pregnant girlfriend and three children in a sickening bedtime massacre - smashed his victim over the head with the workshop tool at HMP Frankland in County Durham.
The former cage fighter, 36, was jailed for life with no prospect of parole following the 'truly evil' murders and rape of his daughter in Killamarsh, Derbyshire, in September 2021.
Today, he was handed another life sentence after admitting attempting to murder prisoner Michael Mullaney in what was described by a judge as an 'act of extreme violence'.
Teesside Crown Court heard how Bendall struck Mullaney four times 'with full force' with a claw hammer in the prison workshop, with the blows causing skull fractures and internal bleeding.
Judge Francis Laird, KC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, said Bendall carried out the 'premeditated and planned' attack in a plot to engineer a transfer to the prison's segregation unit.
He said Bendall would serve life with a minimum term of 15 years before he could be considered for parole.
However, he added: 'Because of the whole-life term you are currently serving, in all likelihood you will never be released from custody.'
Damien Bendall has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 15 years for attempting to murder an inmate in prison
Lacey Bennett with her brother John Paul Bennett and their mother Terri Harris. They were murdered by Bendall in 2021
Lacey’s friend Connie Gent, 11, was also murdered by Bendall at the house
The court heard that Bendall had been on 'friendly terms' with Mullaney at HMP Frankland when he launched the 'ferocious' and 'unprovoked' attack in May 2024.
Prison officers feared Mullaney had been instantly killed, with blood pouring across the workshop floor.
Judge Laird said: 'You approached him, carrying a concealed hammer.
'Without any provocation or warning, you struck Michael Mullaney to the head with the hammer.
'It was a full force blow and it struck his head from behind. The blow rendered him unconscious and he slumped down.
'You then struck another three forceful blows with the hammer to his head.'
After restraining and handcuffing Bendall, a prison officer asked him why he had carried out the attack. Bendall replied: 'I don't know.'
Mullaney was taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, where he remained under observation for four nights.
In a statement read to the court, he said he was 'in shock' at being attacked by someone he had 'considered a friend' and was left 'fearful of further attacks'.
Bendall, who appeared in court by video-link from the segregation unit at HMP Wakefield, later claimed he carried out the assault in a calculated bid to be moved into an isolation unit and avoid mixing with other inmates.
His barrister, Vanessa Marshall, KC, said: 'He made a decision to commit the offence so that he could engineer a transfer to the segregation unit of the prison.'
'One thing that Mr Bendall would like me to express is that he held no contempt from Mr Mullaney despite what he did. They were friends and he wanted to convey his regret and apologies.'
Chandos Crescent in Killamarsh, Derbyshire, where the bodies of John Paul, Lacey, their mother Terri Harris and Lacey's friend Connie Gent were discovered
Bendall was handed a whole-life tariff at Derby Crown Court in December 2022 for the murders of his partner Terri Harris, 35, her son John Paul Bennett, 13, her daughter Lacey Bennett, 11, and Lacey's friend Connie Gent, also 11, who had been staying for a sleepover.
The violent psychopath went room to room bludgeoning each victim with a claw hammer and raped Lacey as she lay dying.
After the killings, Bendall took John Paul's Xbox and exchanged it for drugs before calling 999 to confess.
Bodycam footage later captured him telling officers: 'Bet you don't usually get four murders in Killamarsh, do you? Well, five because my missus was having a baby.'
He later claimed he had blacked out after taking up to four bags of cocaine and initially did not remember the massacre.
Sentencing him to die behind bars, Mr Justice Nigel Sweeney described the crimes as displaying 'extreme brutality' and labelled the rape of Lacey 'the grossest breach of trust'.
A subsequent inquest found there had been 51 'very stark' failures by the Probation Service in the lead-up to the killings, with overworked and inexperienced staff missing multiple opportunities to intervene.
Bendall, originally from Swindon, Wiltshire, had a history of serious violent offending dating back to 2004, yet had been assessed as 'low risk'.
